Chuck vs Karaoke
by Metropolis-Rising
Summary: Chuck, the Buy More crew, and Casey go out for the night. Chuck/Casey friendship with Charah overtones. Some strong language and alcohol within!


"Chuck vs. Karaoke"

_Rating: A very strong T(at the advice of a reviewer) for some swears and lots of drunken goofiness._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck or any songs used within, nor am I making any money from the following work, it's all for fun._

_Synopsis: My second "Chuck" fic finds Chuck and the Buy More crew at a karaoke bar for some group bonding. I'm attempting some goofy, possibly OOC Chuck/Casey friendship bits with a side of Charah, but know that I'm not 100% on all of season two yet only having seen a few eps, but for all intensive purposes this would come after "Chuck vs. The Best Friend"_

_CVKCVKCVKCVKCVK_

Charles Bartowski was less brave than he used to be, but a year and some change of solid undercover/secret identity shenanigans had brought him back within range of his old self, I.E. the semi confident world beater who had been betrayed on every level and kicked out of Stanford.

Still though, finding himself at "Duck Duke's, the Duke of Ducks" pinball and live band karaoke bar, with most of the Buy More work force and a fairly disgruntled John Casey definitely required a little liquid courage.

_How did I get talked into this again? _the human Intersect host asked himself ruefully.

The fact was that Sarah had needed a night off from the "assignment" part of their lives and had tasked Casey with watching over Chuck that night, with Sarah being "on-call" should there be a situation. Chuck had noted with fondness that Sarah had chosen to spend her free time with Ellie; apparently she was fulfilling a promise of a girl's night out with the other Bartowski and Chuck was touched that his sister's company did not fall under "work", despite full disclosure being impossible.

This had all somehow led to Chuck and Casey in a bar that was approximately as loud as an LAX runway during rush hour- during a military shelling.

Chuck sighed_, Someday, Sarah. Someday I swear you and I will have a chance to see if this would work._

Casey rolled his eyes,_ Great, the puppy misses his girl_.

"Hey Bartowski," Casey yelled over the sound of Jeff howling out Steppenwolf, "how about you forget about her for thirty damn seconds- she aint going anywhere!"

Chuck shot a dark glance at his NSA handler before seeing something in Casey's eyes (which were still flinty, at best) and realized that the man probably had a point.

_God, John Casey, trying to goad me into having fun, what IS the world coming to?_

"Tell you what Casey," Chuck yelled , "I will seriously try to not be regular old Chuck if you go shot for shot against me!"

Casey sneered, the challenge garnering his pet nerd a small amount of respect, "I've had drinking contests with some of the hardest men ever born, Chucky;the day I can't drink you to the basement level under the table is the day I willingly cook you breakfast!"

Chuck simply gestured to the platter of shots, a fierce grin on his face that only usually was seen when he and Morgan were destroying some poor fools on Counter Strike.

"Well, _John,_ you must not have been drinking with any Gamma Delta Phi's. Or else I'd have heard about whatever little sipping contests you mean little girls were in," Chuck said, his challenge cutting through the din, and right through Casey's facade of grouchy superiority, actually getting a near genuine cocky smile out of him.

Barely a second passed before both men had grabbed the first of many shots.

_Game on._

_CVKCVKCVKCVK_

"SARAH!"

"WALKER!"

"HEY SARAH!"

Somewhere, away from the crowded bar, Sarah Walker was holding an iPhone about a foot away from her ear as two of the most important men in her life bellowed less-than-soberly across a network.

"WHAT? What? Oh, okay, sorry," Chuck laughed, transitioning to a much more civilized volume. "Casey and I were talking and stuff and Morgan is singing the Beatles and, man, I can't stop thinking about your eyes," Chuck rambled happily, not even noticing his slip. "What? Yeah, that was Casey a minute ago. Okay!"

Chuck flipped his phone to Casey before leaping from his seat and running up to the stage as his brother in spirit, Morgan (who had bolstered his confidence with a few boozy Grape Nehis), started to serenade Anna and the rest of the lively audience with a surprisingly well sung version of "Something".

Casey looked at the portrait of Sarah on Chuck's phone before taking a few deep breaths and getting his head straight.

"Walker! How the fuck are you?" Casey roared happily, totally missing the mark at normality.

"What? Whaddya mean I've been drinking?!" Casey stopped and chugged a nearly full pint of pale ale, as Chuck had made the command decision to switch to beer after they lost count of the shots done by both sides.

Casey wasn't sure, but he thought Chuck may have cheated somehow.

"Well, yeah, but Chuck called my abilities into question! Challenged my honor! I'm not dera, deril, I am NOT shirking my duty!"

Had anyone been listening to Casey argue with his partner, and they had known the man, they would have noticed a slight twang enter the man's accent as the IPA worked it's boozy magic.

"What? Ellie did not say that! You tell that DAMN fine woman, if she's so concerned you could come and find us yourselves!"

Casey frowned at the empty glass on the table before Chuck re-appeared with a fresh pint and ran off again, clutching his own beer as the contest raged on.

"You should see this place, Walker! A valkyrie like yourself would have to knock em off with a bat! Seriously though, Dr. Bartowski is gorgeous. Don't tell her I said anything though, I don't need that Dudebro she's shacking up with coming after me in his spandex pants."

Casey took a second to applaud Morgan. _The little beardy guy did pretty great!_

A couple of minutes passed and Casey seemed to forget that he was on the phone, before noticing two distinct voices laughing from somewhere in the vicinity of his ear.

As the other side of the phone was busy with some fierce debate, Casey took a healthy drink of beer, realizing that he might be a little more than buzzed.

"You know Walker, you're great," Casey rumbled, "I don't like people, but you and Chuck, you guys are great."

Casey watched Chuck bounce around with the Buy More crew as that pudgy kid with glasses started screeching out "Basket Case" by Greenday.

Surprised at the recognition of the song, Casey realized that working at the Buy More and having to occasionally straighten the music section was affecting him more than he thought.

For one small second, John Casey looked around the bar, a looked at his Asset and his co-workers, and thought about how having a few drinks (or more than a few) with some civilians wasn't the worst thing ever. It wasn't a quiet evening in, insuring that his arsenal was tip top but still...

John shook his head, conflicted at what seemed to be genuine emotion escaping from its cage. His instincts said to stop drinking while he was ahead, but the primal urge to keep a good buzz going won out and John decided to stay locked in combat with his cunning foe, alcohol.

Casey looked at his watch, the numbers seemed a little squiggly though.

"Seriously Walker. You're a great agent! You make a damn fine partner, and an ace fighter; plus, Bartowski is head over heels for you and you seem to not be destroying him." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Casey thought he may have violated the "bro-code", but plunged on, "Duty is a bitch, huh? I'd put money on you two if Uncle Sam didn't need us so badly.... Hey where are you at? It's pretty loud on your end-"

Casey looked up as he realized he wasn't alone anymore.

"Shit," the veteran agent mumbled.

Sarah and Ellie were looking down at him, their faces trapped somewhere between severe anger and extreme amusement.

"I can explain-" Casey started but was interrupted by the karaoke band's lead guitarist and the de-facto MC.

CVKCVKCVKCVK

"Alright everybody, let's give a big Duck Duke's 'hell yeah!' to Chuck!"

The crowd went wild as the 6' 3" nerd herder took the stage, his smile out shining his nervousness. Chuck conferred with the band and seemed happy when they all nodded to his request before he stood front and center, staring out at the crowd.

Chuck's eyes took on a far away look as he zoned out for a second and then snapped back to reality, "Uh, I'm going to sing two songs- the first is in the style of Ari Hest covering 'Little Lies', by Fleetwood Mac, and is dedicated to someone who isn't here right now."

Or so he thought.

Chuck deep a deep breath and looked out into the crowd before giving a four count and letting the distorted guitars sweep over him, the words floating in front of his eyes thanks to the LED streaming monitor the bar had installed.

_If I could turn the page_

_In time then I'd rearrange just a day or two_

_Close my, close my eyes_

_But I couldn't find a way_

_So I'll settle for one day to believe in you_

_Tell me, tell me lies_

_Tell me lies_

_Tell me sweet little lies_

_Tell me lies, tell me , tell me lies_

_Oh, no you can't disguise_

_You can't disguise, no you can't disguise_

_Tell me lies_

_Tell me sweet little lies_

_Although I'm not making plans_

_I hope that you understand there's a reason why_

_Close your, close your eyes_

_No more broken hearts_

_We're better off apart let's give it a try_

_Tell me, tell me lies_

Chuck sang the lyrics, every moment with Sarah going through him_, _every touch, every rebuke, every moment that told him that what they felt was **real** even if it was unable to happen for the foreseeable future.

Somehow, Chuck had easily out drank Casey, and while he was buzzed, he could see that John Casey, senior bad ass, was definitely slipping away from sobriety back there in the booth with two ladies....

_Oh shit, _he thought.

But he sang on.

CVKCVKCVKCVK

_But I couldn't find a way_

_So I'll settle for one day to believe in you_

_Tell me, tell me lies_

_Tell me lies_

_Tell me sweet little lies_

_Tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies_

_Oh, no, no you can't disguise_

_You can't disguise, no you can't disguise_

_Tell me lies_

_Tell me sweet little lies_

Sarah Walker was speechless.

She and Ellie had cut short their evening out after receiving one VERY drunk dialing from Chuck's phone.

After about five minutes on the phone with John Casey and his assorted ramblings, Sarah had discreetly activated Chuck's GPS watch, and she and Ellie had decided to go round up their idiots, figuring that if Chuck and Casey (Casey of all people!), were three sheets to the wind, it was a safe bet that the rest of the Buy More crew needed to be put into cabs too.

The last thing she had expected to run into tonight was a performance outlying the shape of Chuck's heart.

She had heard Chuck sing once or twice, her nerd liked to sing in the shower, and Casey wasn't the only one who monitored the audio feed at the Bartowski/Awesome residence, but this was a whole different level.

His normally clear and happy style had taken on a slightly smoky cast, the notes pleading but not whiny, honest without being blunt.

The hardened CIA agent, who had just recently firmed her resolve to get some emotional space from Chuck, felt her defenses fail in an epic fashion at this aural love letter.

A flush crept up her neck and to her cheek and her eyes grew damp; Sarah's body caught between arousal for Chuck's soulful performance and heart ache at his message.

Then she and Chuck had made eye contact and suddenly he was singing for her directly. Instead of a message in a bottle, the song had turned into a conversation they had never found the time for, and Sarah wished desperately to hold Chuck, to run her hands through his hair and whisper in his ear as the word poured out of him.

A quick glance at Ellie revealed that Chuck's sister was more aware of their "relationship" troubles than anyone had suspected; the brunette doctor's eyes were full of compassion while a slight frown tugged at the corners of her mouth.

When the song ended there was a moment of silence before the crowd erupted, even the bar staff giving props to Chuck's abilities.

Sarah clapped loudly with the rest, her mental walls re-arranging, incorporating this new data and trying to decide what to make of the feelings inside of them.

Chuck took a little bow, his smile back in place after vacationing for the duration of the song.

"Now, to bring the mood back up," Chuck grabbed a shot and threw it back with relish, "here's a song for those nearest and dearest to me!"

Sarah could only laugh and cheer with everyone else as Chuck and the band went into Paul Simon's "Call Me Al"

CVKCVKCVKCVK

Ellie watched her brother and his girlfriend work on a subdued first cup of coffee the next morning. Sarah had opted to stay over that night, the blonde grinning and saying she wouldn't miss this morning for a week's pay from the Orange Orange, and she had been gently teasing Chuck all morning in an affectionate way.

Chuck finished the first mug before he mumbled about needing a long shower as part of his "cure", kicking Sarah a peck on the temple and shuffling off towards the bathroom while the two women shared a quiet grin before a knock on the door broke the moment.

At the door? One business-as-usual John Casey, his face clouded over and guarded after last night.

"Bartows-" Ellie watched curiously as her neighbor stopped and started over, "Chuck forgot that I had his phone. Here it is."

"Thanks, John," Ellie said with a smile, "I swear that we won't tease you about loosening up last night." _Lord knows I have a few crazy ones on my list, _ Ellie thought with a smile.

Casey seemed to relax a bit, making eye contact wih Sarah in the kitchen for confirmation, and returned to stoic instead of guardedly cranky.

"How's his hangover?"

"Chuck's blessed with a very good resistance to hangovers," Ellie said enviously. "He could clear out a bar and as long as he had a cold shower and a few egg sandwiches and he bounces right back."

Casey pursed his lips, "When he comes up for sandwiches, tell him to come over to my place. Loser makes winner breakfast, and I don't welsh on a bet."

Ellie's eyebrows popped with surprise, "You and Chuck never seemed that friendly," internally happy that Chuck seemed as adept as ever at making friends with unusual people.

Casey shrugged as a small smile graced his lips, "Boy can drink with the best of 'em," he said as if it explained things, and turned to leave.

"John?" Ellie called to his back, "what would you have sang last night given the chance?"

Casey turned around, a friendly smirk on his face as he looked at the women.

"I don't get that drunk."

End!

_A/N: Whew, I think that turned out pretty well, despite getting away from my original idea a little, but tell me what YOU think! Thanks for reading._


End file.
